“Survivors will be without law and order, without medical care, without food, and suffering from radiation sickness. There will be no help.”
Letter: Focusing on things that matter
“As parents, teachers, employers, employees and citizens, what we do at the local level has consequences for our community, state, nation and the world.”
Off the charts
Letter: Three cheers for Chandler at water department
“Although there are many, many heroes deserving of recognition and acclaim during these weeks, none stand out quite like Clay Chandler and his people at the Water Resources Department.”
Candyland cleanup
Letter: Public housing residents get no relief
“Recent letters and news reports have shown clearly that for relief after the flooding, public housing residents in Asheville have more problems and got dumped on, evicted and neglected by the city again.”
Letter: Bear cartoon misses funny bone
“Poking fun at people who lost their homes and businesses is no laughing matter.”
Letter: Volunteers have offered water, kindness and hope
“What stands out to me the most is the overwhelming kindness, empathy and generosity that characterize the people involved in the recovery and rebuilding of Asheville and all of Western North Carolina.”
Xpress seeks student writing and art for 2025 Kids Issues
Attention, local kids and teens: Who or what inspires you? What is the most inspirational thing you experienced in the last year? Who is your hero? Once you have an idea, it’s time to get creative, then share your work for possible publication in Xpress’ Kids Issues! The theme for 2025 is “Who or what inspires […]
Letter: Grandfather’s photo links to local history
“The recent picture of the ‘old-timers’ in the Mountain Xpress of the exhibit titled ‘Striking a Chord’ contains a photo showing my grandfather James Sylvester.”
Letter: Hope comes with cleanup
“Seeing the progress made every day by the efforts of so many people and organizations gives me hope that our beautiful, funky little city shall rise again.”
Get the lead out
Letter: Stop the destruction of the Nolichucky Gorge
“This illegal mining threatens to permanently alter one of the Southeast’s premier whitewater rivers, with catastrophic consequences for local communities, wildlife and future generations.”
Mulch ado about nothing
Letter: Hot showers and clean clothes are human rights
“Why can’t we make this a permanent fixture? The dignity of a hot shower and clean clothes was made evident in the wake of Hurricane Helene.”
Letter: Our hero
“It turns out it was Steve Shoaf, Asheville’s director of water resources from 2009-15, who recognized the need following the 2004 flood (among others) and advanced the idea before his retirement.”
Well, well, well
Letter: Where will all the dead trees go?
“One way or another, how we handle this mess will have big impacts on our natural environment.”
Letter: Separate valid political speech from antisemitism
“It is beyond time to separate out legitimate criticism of the U.S.’s and Israel’s actions from real ‘antisemitic’ behavior and speech expressed predominantly by white supremacists.”
Bearing false fixes
Letter: We should ditch standardized testing
“If we want to continue and give our youths the best lives possible, why are we torturing them with this idea of standardized tests defining their lives?”